QUAKE CITY TO QUEENSTOWN - DAY 2

Описание: TGF AND I HAD ALREADY DECIDED TO TURN AROUND AND SPEND ONE MORE NIGHT IN THE GARDEN CITY TO WANDER THROUGH THE EASTERN SUBURBS, LIKE WE WERE IN SOME LOW BUDGET ROMANTIC COMEDY, WITH BETTER SHOES AND WORSE NAVIGATION.

THE PLAN WAS SIMPLE. WALK, TALK, PRETEND WE KNEW WHERE WE WERE, AND ACT LIKE EVERY RANDOM LAMP POST WAS PART OF THE EVENING’S CHARM.

THEN TGF STOPPED MID STEP, POINTED AHEAD, AND SAID, VERY CALMLY, “UNLESS THAT SIGN SAYS, ‘YOU MAY NOT COME OUT OF THIS AREA ALIVE.’”

I LAUGHED, OBVIOUSLY, BECAUSE THAT IS THE CORRECT RESPONSE WHEN SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS LIKE A TRAILER FOR HORROR_FICTION. BUT THEN WE BOTH LOOKED AGAIN. IT WAS JUST A BADLY LIT WARNING SIGN ABOUT ROAD WORKS, HALF HIDDEN BY A TREE, WITH THE KIND OF MENACING FONT CHOICE THAT SHOULD REALLY REQUIRE A LICENSE.

ALSO UNSETTLING WAS THE OCCASIONAL NOISE.

NOT A BIG NOISE. JUST THE SMALL, PERFECTLY TIMED KIND THAT ARRIVES RIGHT AFTER YOU SAY, “THIS STREET IS ACTUALLY QUITE NICE.” A SCRAPE IN THE HEDGES. A METAL CLINK. A SOFT RUSTLE THAT SOUNDED LIKE A POSSUM
WITH A PERSONAL GRUDGE. ONCE, SOMETHING DASHED ACROSS A DRIVEWAY AND TGF GRABBED MY ARM SO FAST I BRIEFLY SAW MY ENTIRE FUTURE, WHICH WAS MOSTLY ME PRETENDING TO BE BRAVE WHILE NEGOTIATING WITH A CAT
.

EVERY TIME WE GOT SPOOKED, WE GOT CUTER ABOUT IT. I DID THE “IT IS PROBABLY NOTHING” VOICE. SHE DID THE “YES, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE SAY BEFORE THE OPENING SCENE ENDS” VOICE. WE WALKED CLOSER. WE LAUGHED HARDER. WE INVENTED BACKSTORIES FOR EVERY SOUND. THE BIN WAS A SECRET AGENT. THE SPRINKLER WAS A NERVOUS ROBOT
. THE WIND IN THE TREES WAS JUST THE NEIGHBOURHOOD GOSSIPING.

BY THE TIME WE HEADED BACK, WE HAD NOT ONLY COME OUT OF THE AREA ALIVE, WE CAME OUT HOLDING HANDS, LAUGHING, AND SOMEHOW FEELING LIKE WE HAD JUST SURVIVED A VERY POLITE ADVENTURE. AS IT TURNS OUT, THE SCARIEST THING IN THE EASTERN SUBURBS THAT NIGHT WAS THE SIGNAGE